The last words recorded here ("Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.") are usually attributed to actor Edmund Gwenn. In fact, I've never seen this quote linked to Shaw before. CyranoR 14:22, 18 Feb 2007 (UTC)

Trotsky's last words are incorrect. While they may have been the last thing he said before being mortally wounded, they were certainly not his last words. As he lay dying he wrote quite a bit and was able to talk before finally dying when his blood pressure got too low. What he did write was pretty profound so you might want to put that in. Other sources claim his last words were actually "I've been shot". Although it is probably not true, it may still be worth a mention.

While General John Sedgwick is indeed known to have said this at his last battle, he was not shot while saying it, as the article implies. Rather, he didn't die until several minutes later, and was deep in conversation at the time. It would make for a good ironic entry, but accuracy should not be sacrificed in favor of humor. (My source). --Etaoin 22:38, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

None of these should be listed without a proper source. Attributing "famous last words" to people has always been a popular pastime, and 70-90% of these are likely to be complete inventions. If Wikiquote does not want to be just another quote website but an accurate directory, there should be clear criteria for inclusion of quotes.--Eloquence 23:28 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Do we want these sorted in any particular order -- alphabetically by quote or by speaker? Chronologically? Scarequotes 23:35, 24 Sep 2003 (UTC)

So far we having been sorting alphabetically by quote. I don't know that any particular order is better than any other, as long as we have some order (to help prevent duplicates). Nanobug 16:28, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC)

There is no consistency on where the person's name should link to, ex:[[w:Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great]] VS [[Alexander the Great]]

I think we should have the names link to wikiquote, it's simpler for the user to read more quotes from that person, and once they are directed to the proper quotes page, they can find a link to wikipedia for further information.

We should expand from within...I'll volunteer in going through the list an correct the wikipedia's to be wikiquote's...

I'd like to suggest we reformat this article. It is currently sorted by person quoted, but the main bulleted items are the famous last words themselves. This makes some sense, but it also causes some problems. First, there is the awkwardness of sorting by something that isn't the primary listed item. More recently, however, is the problem of controversial last word citations. Specifically, there appears to be no definitive quotation of last words for Che Guevara. The one thing that seems to be certain is that some of the published quotes serve the interests of the publishers (or their sponsors) more than they do the goal of accuracy. Therefore, it is difficult to present one quotation as the most likely last words of Guevara. (The current version, which I added based on the only printed work I had available, seems wholly inadequate and very likely wrong.)

I recommend that we restructure this to list the person, then the last words. It's not an unreasonable structure, it makes sorting more obvious, and it allows for unpreferential treatment of various purported last words for figures like Guevara. Any thoughts? — Jeff Q(talk) 17:33, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

my god what has happened to you in german is=MEIN GOTT, WAS IHNEN FRANZ GESCHAH*

"Yes I am" weren't Lennon's last reported words. After the police reached the Dakota building, one of them asked "What is your name?" which drew the reply "Lennon". En route to the hospital, he asked "Are you sure you're John Lennon?" to which Lennon replied "Yes I am" - the policeman then asked "How do you feel?" and was told "I'm in pain". As far as I can ascertain, these were the last words of John Lennon.--Paolo Meccano 16:49, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

No. His last words were "I'm Shot" which he said to the receptionist of the building he was entering. He got shot several times in the back so he was out of concious within seconds.

Lennon wasn't shot in the neck, he was shot in the back and the shoulder. There are conflicting accounts of his last words, although "I'm shot" would seem to be a good candidate according to most reports.. --SleepyHead 20:29, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

These are not the last words of HAL, in the second, third or etc. part of the film Dr. Chandra switches HAL back and HAL and Dawid Bowman see the Jupiter becoming a star. Gubbubu 09:37, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Attributed to him by Shakespeare's famous play; his real last words are unknown. Brutus, one of Caesar's assassins, was his adopted son. According to Suetonius, Caesar's last words were Ista quidem vis est! ("This is violence!").

This translation is incorrect, as "et" can also be a short form of "etiam" ("also", "as well", "too").. And I'm pretty sure that it should thus be translated as "You, too, Brutus?"...

The idea expressed in the article, that "Then fall, Caesar" means that Caesar saw he was outnumbered and could not count on Brutus' support is an interpretation and an unsophisticated one at that. Many would argue that Caesar says this because he realizes in his last moments, that if his beloved Brutus is against him, then he must be a tyrant, and his opposition to the senators is wrong.

I think the Fictional last words should be moved to it's own article. It's getting rather long and hard to navigate. We should also arrange it alphabetically like the current article. Any objections? Donnie 14:16, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Seems like a good idea to me (on both counts - new page and alpha sorted). ~ UDScott 15:12, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Is there still any interest in moving and categorizing fictional last words? And if so, should it be done by character name, or by source title? ~ JT706 19:29, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

In keeping with discussion here, I've created a new page for fictional last words (it seemed a good a time as any to do it, since someone deleted them all - along with the info at the bottom of the page, which I've restored :-). --Joseph Q Publique 09:47, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

The sentence recorded as Chaplin's last words is actually one of the last phrases spoken by Hneri Verdoux in Monsieur Verdoux, not something said by Chaplin in real life. Chaplin's actual last words are unrecorded: he died in his sleep. --62.255.232.28 22:57, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

I've heard "Ripper"'s quote "I told u I was hardcore" (one of the last few intelligible messages that he left on an IRC channel before dying of a drugs overdose. Wikipedia) a few times on the internet. While not technically his last words, would these be eligible for inclusion? --81.111.221.130 22:53, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

The note says 'Of all the comdemned Nazis, he was the only one to salute Hitler before his own execution'. However, most biographies of Amon Goeth have him doing so as well. Change the note? 80.177.175.128 14:57, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Many of these quotes have been taken from sites that obvioulsy feature "humourous " retellings rather than quotes. I just saw a documentary on Robert F, and wondereed if that quote was here. On the way I happened by a few references to John F's last words. Haven't found a suitable web source but both seem a lot more believable to me. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andreuu (talk • contribs) 08:57, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

This is why quotes should always be sourced. Articles like this one are of virtually no use to Wikiquote because they fail to source their claims. What seems "believable" to an editor is completely irrelevant, except in how it encourages that editor to find and cite a specific source. Unsourced quotes are subject to removal by any editor at any time, so I urge editors of this article to try to find reliable sources for any "last words" they wish to keep. ~ Jeff Q(talk) 08:07, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

I plan to remove attempts to add Saddam Hussein's last words to this article unless and until someone can provide citations from reliable sources for these. As with so many hot topics in the world, I expect there will be far more people willing to put words into his mouth than dig up reliable information. At the moment, I have the following information from a reliable source:

Then Saddam began reciting the "Shahada", a Muslim prayer that says there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger, according to an unabridged copy of the same tape, apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a website. Saddam made it to midway through his second recitation of the verse. His last word was Muhammad.

This would seem to indicate that it will be hard to get his exact "last words", but that they will be part of the Shahada. Of course, this report is third-hand, via an unidentified person and unidentified website, and light on details, so it's not particularly satisfying. I imagine this will be the state of the question until we achieve some distance from the event itself, allowing more reasoned analysis of the available information to provide us with more solid information.

By the way, this is an excellent example of why we need sources for the quotes in this article. As it stands, it's not much better than a rumor collection page. ~ Jeff Q(talk) 02:23, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't speak to the specific source, as I can't seem to get it to play at the moment. But if Buchwald created this specifically to be his last words, it makes some sense. Somehow it seems fitting for such a popular humorist to make a final wry comment in such an unusual manner. ~ Jeff Q(talk) 23:48, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

This is an awfully long page, and it's only going to grow - I think it would be appropriate to split out the suicide notes into a separate entry. Thoughts? BD2412T 01:34, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Before we do that, I think we should try to get sources for these quotes. Frankly, in order to push the need for sourcing quotes, I'm in favor of going through each section, finding what sources we can, then deleting any unsourced quotes. Theme articles are notorious for their failure to source anything, and sooner or later we'll have to get more serious about this anyway. ~ Jeff Q(talk) 03:20, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Even so, I see no harm in creating a separate entry for the notes. They are not exactly "last words" in the more common meaning of those thoughts that people gasp out with their dying breath. Cheers! BD2412T 05:11, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I see your point. It's a little morbid, but arguably useful. It might also focus some attention on what kind of inclusion guidelines we'd want for suicide notes. We certainly wouldn't want to include entire notes, as Wikiquote is focused on pithy statements and is not designed to collect documents for their own sake. But there would also be the question of whether some of these quotes are worth citing at all on Wikiquote because they aren't especially original or memorable on their own, only as sad footnotes to the peoples' lives. In any case, I doubt I'll get involved in that intriguing debate for now, so I'll shut up and let others chime in. ☺ ~ Jeff Q(talk) 06:34, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Suicide notes is done (or at least begun) - there are a few that I've found that are clearly not the "last words" of the person. BD2412T 16:47, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

The last words of Christopher Grace? The only actor listed in Wikipedia by that name is Christopher John Grace, better known as Topher Grace - and he's still alive, according to Wikipedia and Imdb.com! Esaons 20:51, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

I removed the Ataturk quote as I couldn't verify it was said, and the words as quoted are mangled ("Alaykum As-Salām" instead of "As-Salām Alaykum"). Could someone perhaps verify the quote and re-add the correct form it to the index? --健次(derumi)talk 20:40, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Ataturk' last words were "Aleykum Selam".

This was a bit delayed response to his doctor when he said "let me see your tongue sir".

Typically the person who starts the greeting says "As Selam Aleykum" to everyone there. Response to this would be "Aleykum Selam". This was interpreted as death angel said to him "As Selam Aleykum" and he responded as "Aleykum Selam".

Not sure if anyone actually cares, but the link is not pointing to the "right" John Jacob Astor. It should be pointing to John Jacob Astor IV... On a side note, is this even verified? The account on this page conflicts with the account on [1].

Yep, we sure do care! I'll research the question. BD2412T 18:04, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Just perusing this page, and I see several entries that were clearly not the speaker's last words. In most cases, e.g. last radio transmissions, this seems ok. Then there are ones like Michael Jackson, which lists what he said as he exited his limo the previous day, or Alexander Litvinenko, which listed one sentence from an interview he gave prior to his death. Do these really apply for this page? They may be significant, of course, but the whole "last words" notion implies something more than these examples provide. Just a thought. Prompt Critical 01:03, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

The wikiquote article mentions that the soldier that killed Archimedes was executed, but the main wikipedia article has no mention of the soldier's fate. I can find no source to back up the claim. This article: http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Death/Histories.html , linked to from the wikipedia article, lists the known accounts, and mentions that "Marcellus ever after regarded him that killed him as a murderer", but does not imply that the soldier was executed.

I noticed that there is a quote listed for Emperor Augustus under 'A', and one for Augustus Caesar under 'C'. I understand that Augustus was a title given to Roman Emperors beginning with Augustus Caesar, but these quotes seem to be referring to the same man. Is this a mistake, or can someone clear this up for me? Shardwing (talk) 00:23, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

This page is rather long (170kb right now), and is susceptible to growth, both through the as-yet unspoken last words of those still living, and through the addition of many more last words from the already dead. I propose splitting by the century in which the subject's death occurred, at least for the past few centuries. For the smaller number of recorded last words before, say, 1500, we can have a single page. Cheers! BD2412T 16:18, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Alternatively, if one were to simply remove all of the unsourced attributions the page would be very much smaller. ~ Ningauble (talk)

Ideally, the unsourced attributions would eventually be sourced, leading to the same problem. BD2412T 17:07, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

I agree that the unsourced quotes should be all moved to the Talk page. ~ DanielTom (talk) 13:05, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

I didn't find sources for "the rest of you can kiss my ass" except for a book that said someone else said that and that Red Dog said "pretty much" the same thing. The only last words I found are at w:James Allen Red Dog#Execution; I'm not sure what exactly would be best here. Ekips39 (talk) 05:38, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

This quote has been in the article since July 2005, yet when you google that name, there are literally no results. Even if you google that pair of 'last words', the only result you get are for other lists of last words, that have obviously just copy/pasted from Wikiquote.

Is this really a fake quote that's just been unnoticed for over 10 years? Or is this just a really obscure person?